How to Decorate for a Kid's Party With Fruit Platters

When providing food for children's parties, you don't need to provide a buffet of unhealthy potato chips, calorie-laden dips and other processed foods. Instead, provide an assortment of platters featuring seasonal fruit in kid-friendly shapes and sizes. When preparing the fruit platters, cut grapes in half to prevent choking hazards and be aware of any allergies that the children may have.

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On Cupcake Stands

Put a cupcake stand to work as a fruit platter. Outfit cupcake stands with an assortment of fruit in sturdy cupcake cups. Place strawberries and blueberries alongside slices of bananas and kiwis in cups or provide one variety of fruit in each cup. Should you not have a cupcake stand, make one with old plates in various sizes, small vases and glue or epoxy. Attach the mouth of the vase to the bottom of an old plate, using glue or epoxy. Let it dry before using it to display fruit cups. For a multi-tier display, glue a vase to a large plate and it let dry before gluing a small vase to the center of the large plate, then topping it with a smaller plate. Let the plates dry and cover them with colorful doilies before displaying the fruit cups. Ensure that the children know to take an entire cup -- not just the fruit from the cups. Be sure to provide several wastebaskets that are accessible to the children.

Edible Table Scape

Transform your table into a large platter by creating an edible table scape. Cover a coffee table -- or other short table that children can easily reach -- with butcher paper. Use nontoxic paints or crayons to create artwork that doubles as fruit platters. Draw flowers, animals and trees for a fun nature scene or trace around various sizes of plates to create a fun polka-dot scape. Further enhance the artwork with fruit in fun shapes. Use a star cookie cutter to create kiwi stars or make a flower with a melon ball center surrounded by petals made from apple slices. If the kids are old enough, supervise them as they create the table-scape art as well as the fruit art.

Fruit Rainbow

Create a rainbow of fresh-cut fruit displayed on a series of platters or on a sheet of butcher paper. Use strawberries, pineapple, orange slices, green grapes or honeydew melon slices and blueberries to create a rainbow. Follow the traditional curve shape of the rainbow, should the platter be large enough, filling the entire space with bands of different fruit. Provide skewers of strawberries, cantaloupe and kiwi on platters, but ensure that the ends of the skewers aren't sharp. If using the tabletop as a platter for a large rainbow, supply bowls of dipping sauces on either ends. Blend together organic yogurt with ginger, cardamom, honey and cinnamon for a tasty dip.

Fruit Faces

Decorate various platters with amusing faces made with fruit shapes. Create either a large face on each platter and allow the kids to pick at the fruit or display small plates decorated with fruit faces on the platters. Use cut bananas for eyes, orange wedges as noses and strategically placed apple slices as mouths and ears. Faces aren't the only shape you can create. Place a pretzel stick on a small plate and provide "wings" of orange or apple slices to create a butterfly.